November 30, 2009 • Vol. 15, No. 11 Download Now! (pdf)

 

EDITORIAL
No Substitute for Victory
by William Kristol and Frederick W. Kagan

SCRAPBOOK
Media on Palin: 'War of the Worlds, II'

ARTICLES
Obamanomics 101
by Fred Barnes

Eric Holder's Horrible Hearing
by Mary Katharine Ham

Malign Neglect
by Stephen F. Hayes

Obama Blunders Through Asia
by Ross Terrill

German-Iranian Relations
by Benjamin Weinthal

Time for a Dose of Protectionism?
by Irwin M. Stelzer

Going Backwards in Beirut
by Peter Berkowitz

FEATURES
The Adventures of Low Impact Man
by Matt Labash

BOOKS & ARTS
Man with a Horn
by Ted Gioia

Prophet Disarmed
by Arch Puddington

Europe's Temblor
by Lawrence Klepp

The Yenta
by Joseph Epstein

Plus-Size Pathology
by John Podhoretz

CASUAL
The Turkey Vanishes
by Claudia Anderson

PARODY
Obama Chooses a Turkey to Pardon


« Tears on the Left's Pillow | Main | House Race Snapshot--Bonus Material Update »

Obama Campaign Rethinks Iran Again

Some very disturbing answers:

In an interview with the Financial Times, Anthony Lake, a former US national security adviser who has worked with Mr Obama since the start of his campaign, also urged the US to learn lessons from its traumatic withdrawal from Vietnam regarding pulling out of Iraq. “The most dangerous crisis we are going to face potentially in the next three to 10 years is if the Iranians get on the edge of developing a nuclear weapon,” he said. “If I were the Europeans I would much rather put on the table more sanctions, together with bigger carrots, and have that negotiation than I would face that crisis down the road.”

Mr Obama and his advisers stress the Democratic candidate’s readiness to sit down with Iranian leaders without ­conditions. “Unless you assume that [Iranian negotiators] have IQs less than those of eggplants, they are not likely to make major concessions for the privilege of speaking with us. So the question is: what is your strategy for the talks?” Mr Lake said. “Do you believe that simply sanctioning them can drive them into concessions before you talk, or do you believe that you need to have the sanctions there as a stick at the heart of negotiations?”

So we learn Obama is once again in favor of meeting with Iran without preconditions and that one of his top advisers doesn't think Iran is on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons. We also learn that Lake doesn't seem to know that diplomats have been promising Iran more and more carrots over the last five years just to negotiate. There has only been one precondition: Iran had to suspend its uranium enrichment for the duration of talks. Can the Obama campaign cite some critical carrot, unknown to the world, that would persuade Iran to negotiate? Can it explain what effect sanctions could possibly have at this point given how little time they have to work?

Email the article Obama Campaign Rethinks Iran Again to a friend:

Send this article to:


Your email address:


Message (optional):


 
Contributors
Editor (on leave):
Michael Goldfarb

Deputy Editors:
John McCormack
Samantha Sault

Contributors:
Dean Barnett
Jennifer Chou
Brian Faughnan
Ulf Gartzke
Reuben F. Johnson
Thomas Joscelyn
Stuart Koehl
John Noonan
Bill Roggio
Jaime Sneider
Search
Archives
Contact
wws@weeklystandard.com
Categories
Feeds: Atom | RSS
[What is this?]
Powered by
Movable Type 3.2